Black Spring (7 page)

“I should think,” Nathaniel said with a pointed look at Beezle, “that your safety would take precedence over talk shows and soap operas.”

“It does,” Beezle said. “But I’m not sure it takes precedence over chips and dip.”

Samiel smacked him in the back of the head and Beezle spewed out the half-chewed sandwich. “What was that for?”

You know.

“Oh, come on, Maddy is more important to me than snacks,” Beezle grumbled. “Anyway, I didn’t think you were paying attention.”

I can read lips.

“But I thought you were looking at your food.”

“Most people don’t focus on their meal to the exclusion of everything else,” I said.

“So it is settled, then?” Nathaniel said, cutting us off before our bickering spiraled down further. “The gargoyle will stay with you whenever you leave the house. He is the only being that can see the true essence of the shapeshifter. It would be too easy otherwise for the creature to approach you in the guise of J.B. or someone else you know.”

“He’s going to have to stay on my shoulder at the wedding like a mutant parrot. It would be too easy to approach me there.”

“Wedding? What wedding?” Beezle asked. “I don’t know anything about a wedding.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, patting my pockets. “I left the invitation in the suit that was covered with squid blood.”

“So whose wedding are we going to?” Beezle demanded.

“Lucifer and Evangeline’s,” I said.

Beezle looked from Nathaniel to me. “When did this happen?”

“When we were at the Ghirardelli shop,” I said.

“Wait—you had time to go to the Ghirardelli shop between confronting Alerian and completely destroying our block? And you went
without me
?”

“Isn’t this business of a wedding more pressing than chocolate?” Jude asked.

“
Nothing
is more important than chocolate,” Beezle said.

“I don’t like the idea of you at Lucifer’s wedding,” Jude said. “Too many opportunities for an attack on you.”

Or for someone to attack Lucifer and for you to get caught in the cross fire,
Samiel said.

“I will be with her,” Nathaniel said.

“And J.B. will be there, too,” I said. “Unfortunately, attendance is not optional.”

Samiel stood up abruptly.
I just remembered. I noticed something when I picked up the mail outside.

“Oh, the mail,” I said. “I forgot about it after I tossed it on the lawn.”

Samiel retrieved the packet from the side table near the front door and brought it to me, bottom side up. Lucifer’s seal was on the back of the envelope.

I pulled the letter out of the rubber band and turned it over.

“This is for you,” I said to Jude.

The werewolf took the envelope from me with a fierce frown. He did not like anything that had to do with Lucifer.

“There’s another one,” Beezle said.

I turned it over. This letter was addressed to Samiel. There was another for Daharan, and even one for Beezle, who seemed thrilled that he had gotten a personal invitation.

“I’m totally bringing a video camera,” Beezle said. “I know people who would pay good money for video footage of Lucifer in a cummerbund.”

“So we’re all invited,” I said slowly. “Even Beezle.”

“Like I would have stayed at home anyway,” he said.

“But the point is that Lucifer made absolutely sure you would show up. All of you,” I said, looking around the table.

We are your team,
Samiel said.

“But does he want you there to back me up in case things go pear-shaped? Or does he want to take you all out in one shot so I’m left alone and vulnerable? Or does he want to hold you hostage in order to get me to do what he wants?”

“Regardless, you are not going alone,” Nathaniel said.

“And who’s to say we could all be, as you put it, ‘taken down in one shot’?” Jude asked. “None of us are weaklings. Even the great and mighty Lucifer won’t be able to destroy us without a fight.”

“I just wish I knew what his game was with this wedding in the first place.” I said. “He’s a law unto himself. He doesn’t need an American wedding to give Evangeline legal rights. And for all his talk of an heir, I can’t see that he needs one. Lucifer and all his brothers are immortal, older than the galaxy. Their parents are creatures that were born with the formation of the universe, and according to Daharan they are still alive, although sleeping. Which is apparently a good thing for humanity, because they are powerful and short-tempered.”

“Not like anyone we know,” Beezle muttered.

“The point is, why now? Why marry Evangeline? Why all the fuss about an heir? Why threaten the relative stability of his kingdom by bringing everyone together in one place? He’s practically guaranteeing a war will start,” I said.

“Alerian is attempting to start a war also,” Nathaniel said.

“Are they looking for an excuse to go at one another?” I asked.

“I think it’s pointless to try to anticipate Lucifer’s plans,” Jude said. “Unless we get more information between today and the wedding day, we should focus on the problems before us. The shapeshifter. Alerian. The mayor’s plan to fence off anybody magical and different.”

“The giant dead squid in the front of our house that’s not going to get moved anytime soon and already stinks to high heaven,” Beezle said. “And it’s not even rotting yet.”

I pushed away from the table. “And we still have to check the house for infestations. Samiel and I can start up on this level. Nathaniel, you and Jude can check the apartment downstairs.”

I gave Nathaniel the spare key. He looked at me. “What if Daharan is in the apartment?”

“I don’t think he is,” I said. “I can’t believe he would have ignored that ruckus up front. Or that he wouldn’t have come upstairs to check and see that I survived the encounter with Alerian. Anyway, it’s my house and he’s not paying rent.”

“Very well,” Nathaniel said, his face doubtful. He and Jude went out the front door so they could start searching from the foyer.

I was getting really sick of defending Daharan. None of the others would trust my instincts on this but I knew he would not harm me. Or double-cross me. I knew it.

Samiel seemed to sense my irritation and resultant need for space.
I’ll just clean this up and then start looking around the kitchen.

I nodded and went into the living room. Instead of starting the search, I went to the edge of the picture window, peering out at the activity in the street while trying to stay out of sight of anyone looking up.

“Why don’t you just veil yourself?” Beezle said.

“I shouldn’t have to veil myself in my own house,” I said.

“But it’s okay to hide in the shadows like a criminal in your own house?”

“I’m trying not to flaunt the fact that I’m here. Why waste Samiel’s cute-dumb-guy routine?”

Beezle muttered something to himself that I could not hear.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Beezle said, but he had a look on his face like he was continuing to mutter in his head, and whatever he was muttering wasn’t very complimentary.

I moved away from the window. There wasn’t much going on right now anyway. Several police cars and fire trucks were parked around the monster’s carcass. The street was blocked off at both ends by police barriers.

We lived close to the end of the block, and a crowd of people and a couple of news vans were on the other side of the police tape. I wasn’t sure what human infrastructure would be able to do about the dead nightmare in the street. Drag it away with a crane?

Maybe later, when Daharan came home, we could figure out a way to clear it out. Since I’d made the mess, I should probably clean it up. Although half the responsibility was Alerian’s. Unfortunately, he probably wouldn’t see it that way. He’d just be pissed that I managed to escape his monster.

For now I needed to focus on the very real possibility that something small and nasty had taken advantage of the open back door. Pretty much every magical creature was unable to enter a home without a verbal invitation. Some little things, though, had such a weak magical aura that the rules were a bit more flexible. An open door could be an invitation to a creature like that. They followed the letter of the magical law, but you never actually asked them in.

Certain creatures behaved a lot like their real-world counterparts. If you got a pair of rat-demons in your wall, good luck getting them out. They were proficient breeders, and once the female started dropping litters, the only way to get rid of them was to hire a magical exterminator. In the meantime the demons would eavesdrop on every conversation you had and sell your information to the highest bidder.

No, this was definitely not a problem that I needed right now. I cast out my power like a net, my eyes closed. I could “see” all the magical energy within the reach of my net. The shapes of Beezle and Samiel were clear in my mind’s eyes, as were the dogs, the aura of their power showing up inside my net.

I scanned the walls and the furniture thoroughly, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There were no living creatures on this floor that didn’t belong, but there was
something
on the floor, something that looked almost like a rapidly dissolving paint trail.

“The shapeshifter,” I said.

I dropped to my hands and knees to peer at it more closely. The trail was dissolving even as I looked at it.

“No,” I said, crawling along the floor, my nose pressed to the ground.

The dogs thought I must be playing some kind of game and hopped off the couch to join me, their tails wagging playfully.

“Not now,” I said impatiently as I scurried along after the trail.

“What on earth are you doing?” Beezle asked. “I can’t decide if you look like a basset hound or a really fat cockroach.”

“I’m not fat. I’m pregnant,” I said automatically. “And I think I found the magical signature of the shapeshifter, the spell he used to lure Lock¸ Stock and Barrel outside. If I could just get a good look at it, I might be able to lock on to it and track it.”

As I said this I continued following the trail down the hall between the kitchen and the dining room. Lock and Barrel padded after me curiously.

“So what’s the problem?” Beezle said, landing on my shoulder and pressing his cheek against mine so he could peer down at what I was looking at.

“It keeps dissolving,” I said. “Almost as soon as I look at it. Do you see that?”

I pointed to the disintegrating trail.

“Yes,” Beezle said, sounding intrigued. “It’s almost like the act of focusing on it is making it disappear.”

“What am I supposed to do, then, glance at it out of the corner of my eye? Pretend I’m not looking at it? How am I supposed to track this thing down if there’s no magical signature to trace, no scent trail to follow? It doesn’t even have the same appearance from one moment to the next.”

“It is pretty much the perfect enemy,” Beezle agreed. “It seems when Alerian designed these creatures, he thought through every permutation and possibility and made absolutely sure those doors were closed.”

I came to my knees and fisted my hands on my thighs. “And if Alerian did that when he was creating a monster, then what chance do I have at stopping any of his other plans?” I said. “He’s sure to have considered every angle already, and I don’t even know where to start.”

Beezle patted my head as I watched the magical trail disappear. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And if you don’t, you can always fall back on your de facto solution—flames, explosions, total destruction.”

“You know, I try
not
to use those methods,” I said.

“There’s a giant octopus outside that would beg to differ if only you hadn’t set him on fire,” Beezle said.

“You’re the one who told me that fire destroys all things,” I said.

“I didn’t realize I’d created a pyromaniac,” Beezle said.

There was a sudden thunder of footsteps on the back stairs, like someone was running up in a hurry.

“That doesn’t sound good,” I said, trying to stand. “Help me get up.”

“You want
me
to help
you
? Do I look like the Hulk?”

“Then get Samiel,” I said, breathless and annoyed.

I couldn’t seem to figure out this whole weight-on-the-front thing when I was on the ground. Every time I tried to get up, I’d roll back on my butt like a Weeble.

A second later the back door flew open and Jude came in, his face pale. He paused in the kitchen, his gaze moving toward the center of the room. It was out of sight from where I was in the middle of the hall, but I could hear the clatter of porcelain and running water as Samiel washed the dishes, which meant his back faced Jude.

Jude looked indecisive for a moment, then came to me and helped me to my feet.

“What is it?” I asked, searching his face. “Was there something in Daharan’s apartment?”

He shook his head. “You need to come to the basement. And make sure Samiel stays here for now.”

A cold ball of dread formed in my stomach. “Beezle, will you stay here and distract Samiel?”

“Aww, but I want to see whatever they found,” he said.

“Gargoyle, can you not do as you are told for once in your life?” Jude snapped.

“Jeez, okay,” Beezle said, flying off my shoulder and down the hall. “Fly off the handle, why don’t you?”

“You know he doesn’t mean any harm,” I said.

Jude indicated I should follow him. “Sometimes levity is not appropriate.”

I followed him though the kitchen. Beezle had Samiel crouching in front of the open refrigerator so that the door blocked any view of us passing. I felt like we were unfairly taking advantage of Samiel’s deafness.

I didn’t speak until we were on the stairs. “It’s Chloe, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Jude said. “Nathaniel does not want you to see what was done to her.”

“He’s worried about the effects of stress on the baby.”

“And normally I would agree with him,” Jude said. “But this is your home, and I feel you have the right to see what has happened inside it.”

“And you’re correct,” I said. “He can’t protect me no matter how much he wants to.”

Nathaniel stood at the bottom of the stairs, his arms crossed and his eyes snapping. I knew he had heard every word.

“Is it not enough for you to know she has died? Must you personally witness every spatter of blood?”

“You act like I’m a rubbernecking ghoul,” I said. “Jude’s right. It’s my home. If it’s been violated, then I should know how.”

Nathaniel did not respond. He dropped his arms and led us through the laundry area to the door of one of the two storage rooms. This one was for the tenant of the first-floor apartment, but as far as I knew, Daharan had never put anything inside it. The coppery-tang scent of blood was strong here even before Nathaniel pulled the door open.

It took a long time before my eyes could figure out what they were seeing. The small space looked like a slaughterhouse. It’s easy to forget how much blood the human body can hold. That is, until you see it painting the walls and floors.

All of Chloe’s organs had been removed and then diced and tossed around. The only reason I knew it was Chloe was because her head was intact, her eyes wide and accusing.

“She must have suffered horribly,” I said. I was too sad to be angry. “There was no reason to make her suffer. She wasn’t a threat to anyone. I don’t want Samiel to see this.”

“I did not want you to see this,” Nathaniel said.

“So noted,” I said, sighing. Chloe and I had not always seen eye-to-eye, but I would never have wanted this for her. And Samiel loved her, and I didn’t know how I would tell him about this. Every death was another weight on my heart, and some deaths hurt more than others. This was one of them. “What I want to know is who did it, and how. Anything magical and powerful enough to do this wouldn’t have been able to get in, right? So it would have to be a human. But what human would break into my house just to kill Chloe?”

“A human who came at the behest of some master,” Jude said, his eyes sad. Jude had always liked Chloe, who had figured out how to restore the memories of the pack’s cubs after they were kidnapped. “A human who came for one of us, but instead stumbled on Chloe, who was likely poking around looking for Samiel. And that human didn’t even have to break in. The back door was wide-open.”

“I think the two of you are deliberately ignoring an obvious perpetrator,” Nathaniel said. “Chloe is in Daharan’s space. And Daharan is missing.”

I stared at Nathaniel. “Daharan wouldn’t do this.”

“You think he is not capable of murder?”

“Well, no. Everyone is capable of murder if pushed,” I said. “But there’s no reason for Daharan to do something like this to a woman he’s never met. Whoever did this . . . they enjoyed it.”

“You forget that Daharan is Lucifer’s brother,” Nathaniel said. “I have seen Lucifer do all this and more simply to relieve his boredom.”

“Daharan is not Lucifer,” I said.

Nathaniel opened his mouth to argue some more but stopped when a very loud thump came from the other storage space.

“There’s someone in there,” I said, my heart quickening.

Nathaniel and Jude immediately stepped in front of me.

“It may be the killer,” Nathaniel said.

“You couldn’t smell an intruder?” I asked Jude as the two of them cautiously approached the other storage area.

Jude shook his head. “Too much blood. It overwhelms everything else.”

I nodded my head, remembering the time we had stumbled upon Azazel’s lab and something similar had happened.

Nathaniel and Jude moved in fluid synchronicity, silently exchanging glances as they moved into place. Nathaniel yanked the door open and Jude rushed in with a roar, Nathaniel directly behind him. Their footsteps stopped abruptly, and I moved around the door so I could see what was going on. The two of them had stopped just inside the entrance, staring at a figure on the floor. All I could see was a pair of legs clad in blue jeans and pale bare feet.

Not another body,
I thought.

But it wasn’t. The two men moved aside as I joined them, staring down in surprise. It was Jack Dabrowski.

His hands were bound behind him, his mouth covered with tape, and his eyes were terrified. As soon as he saw me his gaze widened and he kicked out his feet, trying to move away. He shouted through the tape, shaking his head back and forth.

I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I looked behind me, saw no one standing there, and pointed a finger at my chest. “Me?”

“The shapeshifter again,” Nathaniel said. He knelt down to try to help Dabrowski, who’d been able to flee only a foot or two before he came up against the boxes of who-knew-what that filled most of the room.

Most of the boxes had been there when my mother was alive. Interestingly, when Daharan had rebuilt the house after the Retrievers burned it down, he’d duplicated the original structure and contents down to the last detail. It was almost as if the house had never been destroyed at all.

Jack wriggled around on the floor, making it impossible for Nathaniel to take the tape off his mouth and cut his bonds.

“For the love of all the gods that are and ever were, hold still,” Nathaniel said through clenched teeth.

Jude joined him, holding Dabrowski’s legs to limit his movement. Nathaniel managed to rip the tape from Dabrowski’s mouth and the blogger immediately began yelling his head off.

“Get her away from me! Get me out of here! I saw what you did. I saw you. And everyone in the world is going to know you’re a monster.” His face was pale and sweaty and his eyes rolled in his head like a wild horse.

“Jack,” I said. “Whatever you think you saw, it wasn’t me.”

“Of course you would say that. You don’t want your reputation as the savior of Chicago to be tarnished,” he said.

I was trying to be patient and sympathetic because he’d obviously been through an ordeal, but I’d been through an ordeal or two myself since waking up that morning and my patience was stretched pretty thin.

“My reputation as ‘the savior of Chicago,’ as you put it, was nothing I wanted in the first place. It was your fault, anyway. You’re the one who went online advertising what I’d done. All I ever wanted was to live anonymously.”

“So you could carry out your atrocities without the glare of the public eye on you!” Jack shouted.

“Seriously? Where do you get your dialogue from?” I said. “You’re like a scene from a bad movie. Look, why don’t you tell us what happened?”

“You know what happened! You did it!”

“Let’s say I have a case of temporary amnesia, then,” I snapped. “Just give me the recap in your own words.”

Jude had by this time cut the rope that bound Jack’s hands. He scrambled to his feet, rubbing his wrists, which had been chafed raw by the bindings.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Jack said. “I’m leaving. I have a murder to report.”

I was still close to the door, so I moved to stand in the frame. Jude and Nathaniel both reached for Jack, to hold him back, but I shook my head at them. I wanted to see what Jack would do when confronted by me, and only me. I wanted to see whether he really believed I was such a monster.

He stopped about a foot away from me. He was several inches taller than me (as most people seem to be) and I was hugely pregnant. Jack could probably muscle his way past me if he wanted. To all outward appearance I didn’t seem to be much of a threat. Yet sweat beaded on his upper lip and ran down the side of his bloodless face.

The shadow inside me, the dark magic that slept under the surface, awoke with a snarl of pleasure. The darkness was a predator, and here was prey. I refused to let the shadow run free, but I could use it to my advantage for the moment. Jack took a half step back, and I knew he had seen my eyes change.

“Madeline,” Nathaniel said, the word filled with warning.

I ignored him, speaking only to Jack. “If I’m a murderer, as you say, what makes you think I would let you go?”

He took another half step back, shuffling away from me.

“These guys will stop you,” Jack said in desperation. “The only reason you did what you did before was because no one was around to witness it.”

“Neither of them has enough power to stop me,” I said, and in saying it I knew it to be true.

Nathaniel’s magic almost made him my equal. Almost. But I was the stronger one. The two strains of Lucifer’s power that were alive inside me, plus the magic that came to me from Azazel, had combined in such a way that there wasn’t much out there that could stop me if I didn’t want to be stopped.

Jack looked at Jude and Nathaniel, who watched him impassively. “What do you want from me?”

“All I want is for you to tell me what happened,” I said. “How is it that you were on the spot? I just told you to get lost and stay lost this morning.”

“As if I would let a threat keep me from reporting the truth to the public,” Jack said, a trace of his usual zeal back in his voice. “Anyway, I put micro cameras and bugs all around outside so I would know what you were up to. I knew all of you had left the house because I saw you leave, even that guy who usually hangs around the house all day.”

“Daharan?” I asked. “I don’t suppose you know when he left.”

Jack shrugged. “It was right after the wolf and the gargoyle and the angel. He walked out the back and into the alley.”

“Did you see where he went?” I asked.